Lessons I’ve learned since starting out as a blogger

I’ve had this little blog for just over 3 years now and when I first started I didn’t have a clue what I was doing half the time, literally. I have learned a lot in the last year or so because I’ve took my blog to the next step, I became self employed with Samantha. J and that’s took a lot of work.

Running a blog is hard work and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. When I first started it was a hobby which I loved then it grew into something I now work on every single day. I’ve never poured this amount of time and energy into something before but it’s been so rewarding.

I think a lack of confidence held me back from sharing more stuff online for a good while on my blog and that’s my only regret but I wanted to share what lessons I have learnt since starting out as a blogger so here we go..

Never compare yourself to other bloggers. 

I made this mistake constantly when I first started my blog. I started my little WordPress blog and was so proud of how I customised it etc. I legit spent days deciding on a theme because I kept picking one customising it and then seeing a better one but then you see other bloggers who had a better site, who knew their own style and they had a theme on Instagram, they already had better handles on their social media accounts compared to mine which I hadn’t changed since I finished high school.

I felt so unprepared for the blog life. I felt like I was behind before I had even started BUT that wasn’t the case because everyone had to start somewhere and even though my site wasn’t the best site in the world I was happy with it and that’s what should matter.

It’s so dangerous to keep comparing yourself to other bloggers because everyone’s story is different. It is hard not to compare yourself  but now I admire other bloggers rather than comparing myself and just hoping one day I can make my own blog a success as much as they have with theirs.

Write for yourself.

It’s very easy to go off track. I used to write my blog to please others. I wanted my readers to like me that I was writing about things I didn’t want to write about. Guys, write what YOU want to write about. It’s your site. Your blog and no-one else’s, it’s a reflection of you and your life and I don’t know about anyone else but I want to feel happy after I’ve written a post. Write about what makes YOU happy because at the end of the day it’s your blog. Once you write about what you want, that when your readers will keep coming back and stay around because your blog is a reflection of you.

Know your worth. 

There’s been a lot of talk on the blogosphere last year and this about knowing your worth as a blogger. I was kinda clueless for the first year and a half I would say although I didn’t start properly working with brands until last year it did take me a long time to see my worth. I did a lot for free in the beginning, In some ways it was benificial as it allowed me to build relationships with brands but in other ways I got taken advantage of too.

Too many times we allow numbers to define us and in the process we lose sight of our value.

Ultimately, you have to be the one to decide but don’t sell yourself short. You have to know your worth. If you don’t know it, then you can’t expect brands to know it.

Plan. Plan. Plan. 

When I first started I had no idea just how much planning I would need to do. I mean I do like to be organised but having a blog and running all the social media accounts is a complete different ball game. I would write posts and take photo’s the day before they went live, not the best idea ever. It was stressful.

Now, I have to be more organised working with brands as I have deadlines etc. so I tend to always have a couple of posts planned but sometimes life gets in the way and you can’t always be on top of things. Give yourself time to write up posts and take photo’s so you don’t get caught behind.

Don’t get caught up in numbers.

Blogging can can be a numbers game but don’t let it consume you because if you let it, then it will. I’ll admit that a few months in I set my expectations way too high and I was glued to my WordPress stats and my google analytics watching the numbers slowly and I mean SLOWLY go up. I was getting myself depressed because I wasn’t seeing any growth compared to others (here we are again comparing, it’s not easy). I did take a little break due to all of this then came back with a fresh frame of mind.

I realised I’d spent way too much time on the numbers, visitor views, bounce rates when I could have spent that time working and poring all my energy into my blog to make it the best it could be. After the break I had I then focused all my attention to my blog and even though I still look at my views I do it once a week rather than 3/4 times a day. Yes I was THAT obsessive.

& that’s it. That’s what I’ve learned since starting out as a blogger. What have you learned?

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